September - November Chapter one = The creation - Creation of the team / Found the project / First contact with PDS
The team was initially formed of 6 active members that had been in the society for one year already. As last year’s project did not become concrete, the team, motivated as ever, expanded into a wonderful team willing to set up a project that would really have an impact. After being formed, a project had to be found. The team agreed upon a project that was relevant for us and that would help directly those that we would meet. The Tanzanian Project was born. The whole team had been touched by the PDS mission and was unanimously excited to be part of it. The first contact with PDS brought the project to the next level. The project was not only becoming clear but was becoming something we could finally look forward to. We were aware of the amount of work this would require but the motivation this contact gave us brought a positive and galvanizing energy in the group. Trust was becoming inherent in the group whilst we all worked hand in hand to make our project a reality.
December - February Chapter two = The concretisation - Fundraising / crowdfunding / Sells / Roses’ sells
After having created the team and settled all the objectives, we began in December the crowdfunding campaign. It was probably the most intense part of the preparation since we had only 2 months to raise 8.500€. We mainly received the support of all the families of our members without whom the project would probably never exist. But at the same time, we had the support of Alex Wetzel, which brought the fundraising’ campaign to another dimension. Président of the association Amatis, he was touched by our mission and entered in contact with us via Linkedin. After a few calls he brought about 4.000£ for our campaign. Thanks to him we went beyond our initial objective and collected almost 10.000€. That surplus has allowed us, among other things, to run a collect of sanitary pads for the young African girls. In addition to this crowdfunding period, we conducted a few bake sales in our University. Each week we were selling cookies, crock-mister and brownies to collect funds while keeping our campus alive. All in all we have raised no less than 18.000€ in the whole year and it was an extremely enriching and formative experience that again strengthened the links within our team.
March - April Chapter 3 = The finalisation - Workshop with PDS team / last events (casino) / Last preparation
The final months of the project construction were more about finalization than creation. The fundraising assured that the project came to life but the team did not want to stop there. For us, the fundraising was the bare minimum and we continued to work hard to earn even more money to have an even greater impact. The final major event organized by the society was a fundraising casino night. The goal was for the guests to participate directly in the project whilst having fun. The night was finalized by a speech by our two wonderful presidents doing a final presentation of the Tanzanian project. In order to be fully prepared for the culture shock, PDS organized several workshops to ensure that the team was completely aware of what to expect when we would be there. Workshop such as “Descrimination and stereotypes” or “Culture shock and volunteerism” were presented to us.
May Chapter 4 = The mission / The real beginning is yet to come - The trip THE REAL BEGINNING IS YET TO COME !!